but I don't like the idea of them staying alive.

I lol'd.

And it's true, we have a primal urge to eliminate things that seem weak and pointless. It's the merits of natural selection speaking to us through a blood thirsty portion of our brain.

Ants are plentiful. And they get in our food and bother us. Even if it's being harmless, they're part of a collective of things called bugs. Annoying little saps that, sure, are harmless, but who cares? They hardly have the capacity for thoughts and emotions like we do, so it would be retarded to actually empathize with the poor bastards. They're practically mindless drones who are enslaved by a queen. If you really want to empathize, imagine yourself freeing them.

dude, who doesn't love killing ants? i personally look for ant holes.

According to some, there are 1.4 million ants on this planet for every human. I doubt many of us will kill the number we need to kill to annihilate the species, so I see little problem with killing them. They are insects, replaceable in the greater scheme of things. Sure, some have probably changed the path of history (such as a bullet ant biting somebody who would otherwise have done something remarkable had he not been in such great of pain for 24 hours) in some way or another, but, well, they're ants!

Oh c'mon who cares? Really their life matter so much to everyone? We're human..let's kill 'em all...

On the issue about whether or not ants have use:

First, nobody is arguing for the complete slaughter of all ant kind, just whether or not it is morally bad for one individual to kill part or all of a single colony of ants.

Second, ants are capable of reproducing at a rate that will replace any losses of the scale dealt with in this debate within days.

Third, for that reason any use ant-kind may have as a whole is not significantly diminished by the action being debated.

Fourth, ants are designed for specific environments where they have the uses talked about, whereas this debate clearly occurs in an urban or semi urban environment because it deals with human interactions with ants, and therefore the use is marginal at best.

Fifth and most importantly, the moral status of ants (and therefore the morality of killing them) is not based on their utility to human kind. This is because someone’s, or something’s, right to life has nothing to do with whether or not you, or any other human, or humanity as a whole, or the environment as a whole finds them useful, nor should it, otherwise it would be okay to kill anyone that is deemed to be not a net benefit to society when the terms “benefit” and “society” are so nebulous as to be useless.

So where does moral status come from if not utility?

First, it comes from a things personhood, its ability to be conscious and aware of its surroundings in an experiential way. It may be true that ants have a nervous system that is capable of transmitting signals equivalent to “pain” but there is simply no reason to believe that they are complex or differentiated enough to have a conscious identity that is capable of “suffering” because of that pain.

Second, because it is impossible to determine in every individual’s case what their level of conscious awareness is, it is okay to make judgments based on species, using the best of that species as the standard. This is why it is still not okay to slaughter the brain-dead or those with severe mental disorders, because we assign moral status to species rather than to individuals to ensure maximum protection of those who have a reasonable potential of making the standard, and to ensure maximum taboo against taking a life with that potentiality.

Next, let’s ask what it means for something to be justifiable.

Firstly, “justifiable” must be different from there just being a reason to do something. Otherwise the reason to slaughter ants could just be “it’s fun”. That might not be a particularly palatable reason, but it is a reason.

Secondly, because of that “justifiable” ought to mean “there is both a reason to do something, and it is morally permissible to do something”. There is not just a binary between “morally good” and “morally bad”. There is ground which is “morally neutral”. Such an action does not deserve condemnation for being against morals, but does not deserve to be praiseworthy, either. Such an action is justifiable, simply because there is no reason it is unjustifiable.

Thirdly, killing ants does not do anything that infringes on another being that has moral status, and therefore an ability to assert rights that it would be immoral to break. Because of this it is a morally neutral action, and therefore permissible.

Killing ants may be unpalatable, but morally there is no case against it.

We had our own debate which ended in someone else falling into the fray of ants LMAO!

Well, if by "kill them all" you mean all of them in the area of your school, then I see no problem with that... but I wouldn't want to see them become extinct.

ants are evil demons trying to take over the world , they creep in when you are not looking and are so scary. I do freak out a little bit when I see them, especially when they start to fly. aaaaagggggghhhhhhh kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill killkill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill

Well them being concious and capable of feeling will have a large part to do with this question. its really hard to know if ants do have feelings and conciousness or not, as some believe they do not, while others in fact do. Now I personally think they may not feel them as much as us, and what the most convincing part of them possibly not being concious is there simplicity combined with the fact that we have never seen them act conciously or shown it to us. they all act as one, like each individual one is a machine or some sort. Ask yourselfs this what are signs that humans are concious and capable of feelings? how do you identify happiness in people, and can you identify that in ants? happiness is usually a type of satisfaction or positive feeling in our emotions, obviously humans feel happiness, what about ants? obviously something positive happens with collecting food for the queen, making their home, and just surviving, but is that all instinct or emotions?It also depends on if ants have the same brain chemicals that allow us to feel emotions but i am not educated on such a matter. like I said i like to believe that ants do feel, as they are living creatures, but somehow i think we have a deeper concious ourselves. Now back to the question is it justifiable to slaughter ants? well the question itself is a little flawed cause its justifiable to slaughter anything if its in self defense, but obviously you are talking about slaughtering ants for the hell of it. I honestly don't think its that big of a deal as the ant itself might not even care all that much, but then again an ant will try to fight to stay alive but is that all instinct, or actual emotionall response yet again? Should we care if they barely care at all about our own survival? in any case i think its perfectly natural to not feel guilty about that sort of thing as ants don't portray any strong signs of feeling to us. But this makes me wonder, it is coincidentall that a lot of things we question to be capable of feeling as they don't seem, it seem to be insects when on the same level of the ant, so it it that such a small creature noggin simply couldn't hold a complex mind enough to have the same conciousness we do? it may sound a little silly but may size be a variable in how strong of a conciousness a creature has, also it seems to me that we do feel a great more than most animals, why does it seem to us that we feel emotions on a much greater level than most animals? is it the intelligence that boosts our sensitivity to emotion? if so is it possible through being much bigger or much smarter or simply just more evolved that another creature somewhere in the universe be capable of emotions on a much greater level than us? is it possible that such a being could see us as nothing but ants? there capability to feel emotion and their conciousness being on such a level that our capability of emotion and conciousness are so little to them that they aren't even sure if we feel emotion or are concious at all and do not care because they are sure we can only feel them on such a small level?

Ants are pests. Can any of you honestly say that if you could press a button and it would get rid of all the annoying infestations that we call ants disappear and not be relied on by anything you wouldn't? They bite! The invade! Not to mention so 40 to 50 people die in the US alone from falling in red ant hills!

I am an insect killer and one target of me are ants.every sunday i go down to kill red ants.

Ants have little to no nervous system, and no individual conscience. Therefore there is no reason we should not kill them other than upsetting the balance of an ecosystem. It is no different to killing plants.

I don't like them ants. They can be annoying and they are difficult to kill.

In response to the argument that they have done nothing to me, I can say that due to the fact they can and will damage property and they additionally have the potential to damage or traumatise me, there is no reason why I shouldn't kill them.

I did an Animals Rights debate a while ago and it shows that we, as humans define rights because they are defined by society. Therefore if I decide ants have no rights and I can slaughter them, then I can slaughter them.

I mean, not all of them. They are necessary for eco systems.

Understandably you don't want them around people. They carry diseases and bite.

Enjoying the act as much as it sounds you did might be a little worrisome. Not too unusual for a young boy perhaps (I'm assuming your a young boy) but a bit worrisome. If you do not grow out of it or if you begin moving on to small pets, best to have yourself committed.

I wouldn't worry too much about it at this point though.

If they are a pest. Yes, thats the only way to get rid of them is killing them.

I'm all forward for killing any type of bug. "Send in the army! Get weapons! There'll be no surviving enemy!" I'd say...but this is only if they're in my home. If they're outside then that's where they live and it's not nice to kill them in their own home.

Think about if someone would come into your house and stump you to death that wouldn't be nice. But if you broke into someone's house they have the right to stump you for intruding...unless you invite them in...and I'm done...

i love how the people defending the ants tryto souund smart by throwing out retarted facts that probably arent true, you know what i say, i say ants dont help me so i say they deserve to die!!!!!

and there creepy, which explains that weird picture

Can it be justified?

Sure. If they pose immediate harm to you or your loved ones, survival of the fittest is engaged.

Is it justified in the scenario you outlined above?

No. You are a horrible, horrible person....

They are irritating pests and they do not benefit us. Just kill them. They are boring and stupid creatures which deserve death.

There are 1.4million ants to every human so if you don't start killing THEY will start killing

We must kill them before they launch a full-scale attack on china and destroy cheap labor.

yes,ithe slender man will kill them all with my cokkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkksssssss

Honestly, the strong look down upon the weak, regardless of morals. It's simply instinct. If you looked at a 5 year old kid, he wouldn't be scared of him correct? Well in a sense, that is looking down upon him. You are not respecting him as an equal. Slaughtering ants is not justifiable, but it doesn't matter.

I'm pretty sure everybody walks without checking the ground for ants. Unless you could hover then never mind but for those who cannot hover I'm sure you walk and kill ants all the time.

well I mean they are living creature they should have the same rights as other animals, but they are so numerous that we couldn't kill them all, so go for it.

Keep in mind though if one species goes extinct the affects of the rest of the world, all or large, will be definite.

Not justifyable, but fun.

_

They're pests. They crawl all over your picnic. They sneak into your house when you're asleep. Did I mention they're pests? Kill them.

They're not an endangered species and they really don't have feeling, more like chemical reactions so go ahead burn those like peckers with a magnifying glass!

I feel as though it shouldn't matter if you kill the ants because in today's news there are deaths and killings happening left and right and no one is doing anything about it.